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Home , Chiton, Gumboot chiton, Tide pool

Pool Training Packet

Assigned Biologist: Margaret Elkanick [email protected] Assigned Supervisor: Alice McCaleb [email protected]

Equipment needed:

Radio

Headset and microphone pack

Rules:

This is an essential position when we are open. This means that you may not leave your position unless you are replaced by another cast member. Your job is to maintain the safety of the in while inspiring guests to learn and use their sense of touch to encourage a meaningful experience.

Guests may use a gentle two-finger touch with the animals that are located on the guest side of the rock wall only.

These rules are in place to minimize unnecessary handling beyond the two-finger touch we have for our guests. This allows for a minimum level of stress on the animals with an optimum level of enjoyment for the guests. o All animals should be kept in the at all times. . Only exception being a guest with a disability preventing them from reaching into the tank on their own. In which case a designated clear plastic tub can be used by husbandry only. Call 205 to get in touch with husbandry staff. o stars, urchins, and are not to be removed from the walls, rocks, or pipes. o Horseshoe may not be flipped over. o Buried animals should remain buried. o that are not buried may be turned over underwater to show the underside to guests. o The rocks in the rock wall are not to be moved by anyone other than husbandry staff. They are there to give the animals an area to rest. o Animals on the far side of the rock wall are not to be touched by guests or staff other than husbandry. If, for any reason, an is pulled out of the water, the Tide Pool staff member should call 205.

First Aid: In the case of a First Aid, the Tide Pool staff should use the radio provided and call 205 on 2. Please let them know your location. A first aid bag is located at Tide Pool.

Allergies: Signage is displayed regarding allergies and allergies

Emergency Evacuation: In case of emergency alarm, cast should leave the animals in Tide Pool. Take the radio and assist with guests according to the proper safety protocols.

Tide Pool Conservation Messaging

Conservation Objective/Action: -Importance of in the -Leave the how you found it

Challenge: Think about some other animals that might be keystone in their environments. See if you can find them as you visit us today. American Alligator is a good example

Talking Points: An is any animal without a spinal column, and the word refers to insects, spiders, worms, , , , , octopi, sea anemones, and coral, to name a very few. Invertebrates make up 97% of the animal species on Earth. They represent the biggest source of and are present in most every .

The ochre sea star is a . In an ecosystem, all living things rely on each other and work together to be healthy; but, some species are crucial to the way all the species interrelate. When a keystone species is removed from a , the habitat is dramatically changed. All other species are affected and some may disappear from that ecosystem or even become extinct.

Sea stars eat and keep their numbers in check. Too many mussels will crowd out other species, and since mussels have no other natural predators, sea stars are invaluable for keeping the ecosystem diverse.

There is another animal in Tide Pool that is extremely important to its environment. Horseshoe crabs are “living ”. They first appeared in the record over 30 million years ago. They are found up and down the Atlantic . Studies have shown that shorebirds such as the Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone, and Sanderling depend on Horseshoe deposited along the Delaware for food. Some of these shorebirds make a 9000 mile migration from their wintering grounds along the southern tip of South America to their breeding grounds in the Arctic tundra. Their journey is timed so they can take a rest along the of the Delaware Bay in order to feast upon this large concentration of eggs. Shorebirds will spend approximately 2 weeks dining on the eggs in order to double their body weight and replenish the fuel reserves need to continue with their long journey.

Horseshoe crabs are also important to human health. Their blood contains a clotting agent, LAL (Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate), which provides a fast, reliable for the presence of infectious in drugs as as prosthetic devices such as heart valves and hip replacements.

This area is great to talk about leaving the beach how you found it. Almost everyone goes on vacation at some point in their lives, and almost everyone visits a nice, warm, relaxing beach location. Yet most people do not realize that their fun day at the beach could end up being a bad, possibly fatal, night for sea turtles if we leave the beach a mess! Here are some bullet-points that explain how Aquarium guests can help sea turtles and other aquatic animals during their vacations

 Remove anything from the beach that you brought with you. Do not leave lounge chairs, umbrellas, garbage, towels, toys, boats or anything else on the beach overnight. These items can get in the way of nesting mother sea turtles trying to find a good place to lay their eggs, or even in the way of hatchling sea turtles who are trying to make it to the water.

 Fill in any holes that are dug in the , and flatten any sand castles that were made. I know it sounds sad to destroy all that hard work with those holes and sand castles, but these are HUGE obstacles to the hatchling sea turtles. Many hatchlings fall into these dug holes and cannot get back out and end up dying, or they become an easy target for predators such as or raccoons. Also, with obstacles such as sand castles, turtles can bump into them and get confused and turn back the wrong way. Anything that stands in their direct path can cause trouble for turtles.

 Clean-up all the garbage you see: both yours and anyone else’s. This might seem like a simple task, but it makes a HUGE difference for sea turtles and other aquatic animals. Turtles can easily mistake plastic bags and other trash for their favorite food – jellyfish. This trash gets stuck in the turtle’s digestive tract and can seriously injure or kill the turtles.

Animals in Tide Pool Horseshoe Crab Green Leather Sea Star Red Sea Cucumber Gumboot Channeled Mussels Black Tegula Blueband

Invertebrate Classification:

Horseshoe Crabs

Four species of horseshoe crabs exist today. Only one species, Limulus polyphemus, is found in North America along the Atlantic and from Maine to Mexico. The other three species are found in Southeast Asia.

Horseshoe crabs are not true crabs at all. Horseshoe crabs are more closely related to arachnids (a group that includes spiders and scorpions) than to crustaceans (a group that includes true crabs, , and ).

Horseshoe crabs are often called "living fossils" because fossils of their ancestors date back almost 450 million years--that's 200 million years before dinosaurs existed. Despite inhabiting the planet for so long, horseshoe crab body forms have changed very little over all of those years.

Many people view horseshoe crabs as dangerous animals because they have sharp tails. In reality, horseshoe crabs are harmless. Their tails are used primarily to flip themselves upright if they are accidentally overturned.

Horseshoe crabs have two primary compound and seven secondary simple eyes. Two of the secondary eyes are on the underside. Their compound eyes have been used for research in order to understand human eyes better.

The horseshoe crab has five pairs of legs for walking, swimming, and moving food into the , each with a claw at the tip, except for the last pair. Behind its legs, the horseshoe crab has book , which exchange respiratory gases, and are also occasionally used for swimming.

Horseshoe crabs can nest year-round in Florida, with peak spawning occurring in the and fall. When mating, male horseshoe crabs move parallel to the shoreline on sandy flats and intercept females as they pass by. A male attaches himself to the top of a female’s shell by using his specialized front claws, in a position known as amplexus, and together they crawl to the beach. The male fertilizes the eggs as the female lays them in a nest in the sand. Some males (called satellite males) do not attach to females but still have success to fertilizing the female's eggs as they swarm around the amplexed pair. Most of this nesting activity takes place during high in the three days before and after a new or full moon. Horseshoe crab larvae emerge from their nests several weeks after the eggs are laid.

Most of the "dead" Horseshoe Crabs that people see on are probably not dead at all, but actually empty shells. The shells are molts. Horseshoe crabs grow by molting. As a Horseshoe Crab matures and increases in size, it will shed its old (outer shell or skeleton) and form a new, bigger one, leaving its old shell behind on the bottom of the . The animals increase in size by 25-30% with each molt.

Horseshoe crabs are an important part of the of coastal communities. During the nesting season, especially in the mid-Atlantic States, horseshoe crab eggs become the major food source for migrating birds. Over 50 percent of the diet of many shorebird species consists of horseshoe crab eggs. Many bird species in Florida have been observed feeding on horseshoe crab eggs. In addition, many fish species rely on horseshoe crab eggs for food.

Horseshoe crabs are extremely important to the biomedical industry because their unique, copper-based blue blood contains a substance called Limulus amebocyte lysate. The substance, which coagulates in the presence of small amounts of bacterial toxins, is used to test for sterility of medical equipment and virtually all intravenous drugs. Research on the compound eyes of horseshoe crabs has led to a better understanding of human vision. The fishery collects live horseshoe crabs for resale as aquarium, research, or educational specimens, and the American eel and whelk fisheries use horseshoe crabs extensively as bait along many parts of the Atlantic coast.

Giant Green Anemone

Giant green anemones are primarily found along the west coast of North and Central America, from south to Panama. However, they have also been found in Hudson Bay, Canada, as well as on the eastern coast of Russia. They are typically seen attached to substrate (including manmade structures such as concrete pilings) in locations with cold and high wave activity.

Giant green anemones have tube-like, columnar bodies, topped with a round cap bearing a crown of numerous tentacles. The tentacles contain stinging cells called cnidocytes, which hold venomous organelles called nematocysts, used to paralyze and capture prey, as well as to defend against attackers. Disk and tentacles are green or blue to white, depending on how much sunlight the anemone receives. This is because the anemone has symbiotic living inside its tissues. When sunlight is plentiful, the algae grows, producing a bright green color. If the animal is in shade, these algae will be reduced in number or absent.

These anemones are broadcast spawners; there is no parental involvement beyond the production of gametes.

Giant green anemones are , feeding mostly on sea urchins, detached mussels, crabs, and small fish; they settle preferentially in beds to increase food availability. Once prey is in reach, an anemone stretches its tentacles and paralyzes its prey using the nematocysts on its tentacles. It then uses its tentacles to bring food directly to the mouth. Giant green anemones have an incomplete , meaning that the mouth functions to take in food as well as to expel waste. Once food is swallowed, it enters the gastrovascular cavity where it is digested, then waste products, including empty shells, travel back up and out of the mouth.

There are no known adverse effects of giant green anemones on humans; while their nematocysts do produce toxin, it is ineffective against humans and other .

Leather Sea Star

This sea star gets its common name from its smooth skin. Its soft skin can exude a mucous making it feel slippery to the touch. The leather sea star does not have spines like other sea stars, but six-eight rows of papillae, small feathery sacks used for respiration on each of its five arms.

Although sea stars do not have eyes, they are not blind. This doesn't mean they can see like we do. They possess a small spot at the tip of each arm, which is sensitive to light and enables the sea star to detect shapes and differentiate between darkness and light.

Sea stars have the ability to regenerate a lost arm, and in some cases even the entire body. The vital organs in these creatures are located on the arms itself and so in cases when their arms are eaten by predators or get damaged, these creatures can regenerate fresh arms. From the central disc and one arm, an entirely new sea star can be formed (this can take up to a year).

Sea stars exhibit a form of radial symmetry in which each section of the body with its “arm” is like each other section. The mouth is located on the “bottom” or oral side, and the anus on the “top” or aboral side. They move by means of tube feet borne in ambulacral grooves all along the underside of each arm.

Like other , they have a series of tubes that make up a water-vascular system. The fluid within that system can be moved around, and the tube feet are extended and moved by hydraulic pressure from this system. Water can enter or leave the system through the madreporite, a small porous plate on the aboral side.

Although their motion across the sea bottom is fairly slow, they do move about when searching for prey. A sea star envelops a mussel with its arms and, by applying many tube feet to each , is able to pull the shells slightly apart, no easy feat. It then everts its out through its mouth and inserts it into the shell, eventually digesting the mussel and absorbing its nutrients. The only predators of these sea stars seem to be sea otters and gulls.

Purple Sea Urchin

These urchins are found on the Pacific Coast from Vancouver down to Baja, California.

A purple sea urchin's pin cushion appearance comes from its round inner shell, called a "test".• The test is covered with pincers (pedicellariae), tube feet and purple spines that move on ball- and-socket joints. Young urchins sport green spines. The spines spear food and protect an urchin from predators. Tiny hairs (cilia) covering the spines create a water that carries food to the urchin and washes away wastes. An urchin uses its many tube feet to move along rocks, sand or other surfaces. And if food lands on an urchin's back, all those tube feet pass the food down to the urchin's mouth like a bucket brigade. Surprisingly, an urchin also "breathes"• through its tube feet—that's where gases are exchanged, instead of in gills or lungs. Five tooth like plates, called "Aristotle's lantern,"• surround an urchin's mouth on the bottom of its shell. An urchin uses its teeth and spines to dig holes in stones, which become the sea urchin's hideaway. Sometimes a sea urchin grows larger than its dugout and is "in for life"•— then it must depend on food drifting to it. An urchin's teeth and spines can even drill through steel pilings by flaking away the rust that coats them.

They eat brown and along with decayed matter. Groups of urchins have the ability to destroy kelp forests. on purple sea urchins helps protect kelp forests from destruction. Sea otters that regularly eat purple sea urchins are easily detected—their bones and teeth turn sea-urchin purple!

In the , purple sea urchins decorate themselves with shells, rocks and pieces of algae. Scientists think this behavior protects urchins from drying out, getting eaten by gulls or being damaged by the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Sea Cucumber

Sea cucumbers are echinoderms—like and sea urchins.

Depending on the species, sea cucumbers normally vary in size from less than an inch to over 6 feet.

Sea cucumbers are found in virtually all marine environments throughout the world.

Sea cucumbers feed on tiny particles like algae, minute aquatic animals, or waste materials, which they gather in with 8 to 30 tube feet that look like tentacles surrounding their . The animals break down these particles into even smaller pieces, which become fodder for bacteria, and thus recycle them back into the ocean ecosystem. Earthworms perform a similar function in terrestrial .

When threatened, some sea cucumbers discharge sticky threads to ensnare their enemies. Others can mutilate their own bodies as a defense mechanism. They violently contract their muscles and jettison some of their internal organs out of their anus. The missing body parts are quickly regenerated.

Gumboot Chiton

The gumboot is nocturnal—it usually feeds at night. Found in kelp forests from Alaska west to Japan and south to the Channel .

The is the largest chiton in the world. The gumboot is one of about 650 species of chitons, which have remained virtually unchanged for over 500 million years. The gumboot needs little food, has simple body parts and is ignored as food by most other creatures, including humans. The gumboot's only natural predator is the lurid rock snail.

Sometimes in the spring, great numbers of chitons gather on rocky beaches, probably venturing in from deeper waters to . When you see chitons or other tide pool creatures, it's best just to look, not touch—so the animals stay safe and undisturbed in their homes.

A —thick, leathery, and brick-red—hides the chiton's eight shell plates and its muscular foot, which anchors the gumboot to a rock. Unlike other chitons that can cling tightly, the gumboot is easily dislodged and may be washed ashore during .

To touch a gumboot is to feel the fuzzy texture of about 20 species of red algae that live on the mantle and give the gumboot its brick-red color. The gumboot also eats red algae, which probably adds to its color as well.

The gumboot uses its tongue-like to scrape algae from rocks. The radula has many tiny teeth capped with the element ; the teeth contain so much magnetite, in fact, that a magnet can pick them up.

Channeled Whelk

Whelks are large marine snails (gastropods) with spiral shells. They are found on the eastern coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Whelks are often confused with Conchs- both are large marine snails similar in appearance. However, conchs live in warm tropical water and are that feed on vegetation and whelks live in more temperate waters and are carnivores whose diet is mostly meat.

The Channeled Whelk gets their name from the small grooves or channels that are on the edge of their shells. Whelks grow by using their mantle to produce calcium carbonate to extend their shell around a central axis producing turns, or whorls, as they grow. A whorl is each spiral of the shell. The final whorl, and usually the largest, is the body whorl that terminates, providing the aperture into which the snail can withdraw.

Whelks also have a separate hard, horny plate, called an operculum, which acts like a trap door when the snail withdraws into the shell. Sometimes called a “shoe,” the operculum is attached to the top of the living animal’s foot.

They eat bivalves including mussels, clams, and . Whelks use their shell’s lip to chip and pry the valves of bivalves (i.e. clams) apart by holding it with its foot so that the ventral edges of the prey’s valves are under the outer lip of the whelk’s shell. This is similar to using a knife to shuck (open) a .

Blueband Hermit Crab

Diet: Feeds on algae and carrion.

Habitat: Found in the intertidal zone from Alaska to Baja California

Did You Know? The Blueband Hermit Crab prefers to use the empty shells from snails as its home.

Black Tegula Snail

Diet: Feeds on micro and macro algae. Habitat: Found in the middle to upper intertidal zone of rocky shorelines from Alaska to California. Did You Know? This species of snail may live up to 25 years.

California Mussel

Habitat: Found in the upper intertidal zone from Alaska to northern Mexico.

Diet: Feeds on organic particles in the water. Did You Know?

The was an important food source to Native Americans living along the west coast of America.